Main Idea

For the full guide to using this tool, see Tools for Conquering the Common Core, p 33-36

What should I use it for?

• Identifying main ideas and supporting details

What does it look like?

A guided approach to helping students identify main ideas. The graphic organizer itself is only a piece of this tool. For success, model the process in detail, and follow up with ongoing instruction and practice using increasingly challenging examples.

Main Idea Organizer

How do I use it?

Don’t assume these steps are self-explanatory. Explain and model each one thoroughly, making sure to think aloud as you work your way through sample texts. Continue modeling the process until students are clear about how to identify main ideas and complete their organizers on their own.

Before you start, check your text. The texts you use for your initial modeling sessions should have clearly stated main ideas and easy-to-find supporting details. You can use single paragraphs, short passages, or whole texts.

1. Discuss the difference between the topic of a reading (the subject of that reading) and the main idea (the central point the reading is making about that topic).

2. Teach students that they can help themselves find main ideas by following three simple steps:

• Identify the topic by asking yourself, "Who or what is this reading about?"

• Identify the main idea by asking yourself, "What is the main thing the reading is telling me about this topic?"

• Check your work by asking, "Can I find facts or examples that support my main idea?" If you can't find several supporting details, you might need to rethink your main idea!

3. Model these three steps using a sample text, and use the Main Idea Organizer to record your ideas. Encourage students to chime in and help you as you work.

After the first time

1. Instead of modeling (step 3), Give students opportunities to practice and get feedback with similarly complex passages—as a class, in groups, and then on their own. Be sure the passages you select actually have main ideas (a simple descriptive passage, for example, might not).

2. Model the three-step process using progressively longer and more complex readings (readings in which the main idea isn't in the topic sentence, isn't explicitly stated, etc.). Explain that some passages have more than one main idea, and show students examples of those as well.

3. Teach students to look for clues in introductory sentences and paragraphs, summary sentences and paragraphs, section headings, and specially formatted bits of text (e.g., italicized, bold, large font). Explain that the structure of a text (e.g., comparison, cause/effect, argument) can sometimes offer clues to the main idea as well. With a cause/effect paragraph, for example, the main idea will likely be about the causes and/or effects of the general topic. ( "The Civil War had many causes.")

4. Remind students to look beyond the opening sentence when searching for main ideas. Dispel the myth that main ideas are always found at the beginning of a paragraph by showing students specific examples in which the main idea is stated elsewhere. And clarify that in some texts, the main idea won't be explicitly stated anywhere (i.e., students will have to infer it).

5. Move beyond basic printed texts. Practice identifying main ideas and details in different types of sources (e.g., video clips, data tables, slide shows, texts that have been read aloud).